Astros' Lance McCullers remembers Jose Fernandez while pitching team to World Series

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Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses right-hander Dan Straily, who expressed a willingness to be a part of the team's rebuild and who was the team's most consistent starter, beginning to end, in 2017. "Dan was really what we thought we were getting, a guy who was consistent, prepared. He's an innings eater," Mattingly said. "He's a guy who has made every start. He's a guy who has been durable. We're going to need some guys like that to lead our staff."

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses right-hander Dan Straily, who expressed a willingness to be a part of the team's rebuild and who was the team's most consistent starter, beginning to end, in 2017. "Dan was really what we thought we were getting, a guy who was consistent, prepared. He's an innings eater," Mattingly said. "He's a guy who has made every start. He's a guy who has been durable. We're going to need some guys like that to lead our staff."

CAPTION

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses right-hander Dan Straily, who expressed a willingness to be a part of the team's rebuild and who was the team's most consistent starter, beginning to end, in 2017. "Dan was really what we thought we were getting, a guy who was consistent, prepared. He's an innings eater," Mattingly said. "He's a guy who has made every start. He's a guy who has been durable. We're going to need some guys like that to lead our staff."

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses right-hander Dan Straily, who expressed a willingness to be a part of the team's rebuild and who was the team's most consistent starter, beginning to end, in 2017. "Dan was really what we thought we were getting, a guy who was consistent, prepared. He's an innings eater," Mattingly said. "He's a guy who has made every start. He's a guy who has been durable. We're going to need some guys like that to lead our staff."

CAPTION

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses what it's like for players to go to salary arbitration, a process he took part in once, against the Yankees in 1987. "At the end of the day, I looked at it like you can’t really lose," Mattingly said. "Usually when you get to that point you’re getting a pretty good jump."

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses what it's like for players to go to salary arbitration, a process he took part in once, against the Yankees in 1987. "At the end of the day, I looked at it like you can’t really lose," Mattingly said. "Usually when you get to that point you’re getting a pretty good jump."

“This season wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I want to pitch well for Jose,’ ” McCullers told the New York Times. “It was more like, ‘I want to celebrate the way he loved the game, the way he played the game.’ I still love him, and I’m very sure he was watching.”

McCullers retired that final batter, the New York Yankees’ Greg Bird, via a harmless fly out to center field, giving the Astros the 4-0 win in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series and their first World Series berth since 2005. McCullers’ performance was one for the ages: four scoreless innings for his first career save, with one hit, one walk and six strikeouts.

Fernandez and McCullers met as Tampa-area high school stars, and they worked out together in the offseasons. After Fernandez, drunk and with cocaine in his system, and his two passengers died when he crashed his speeding boat off Miami Beach on Sept. 25, 2016, remembering Fernandez became a theme of McCullers’ season.

McCullers and Fernandez met as Tampa-area high school stars, shortly after Fernandez settled there after defecting from Cuba. They became...

(Tim Healey)

That included a start at Marlins Park. He tossed six shutout innings May 17, in an Astros win against Miami. Before that game, he paid tribute to Fernandez by writing “16” — Fernandez’s number — in the dirt on the back of the mound before every start. He also had Fernandez-themed, custom-made glove and cleats.

McCullers said he thought about Fernandez twice as he pitched Saturday: before the final out, and early in the eighth, when he walked the Yankees’ Todd Frazier.

“I said, ‘Hey, show what you got, because Jose would,’” McCullers said. “Dead serious. Stepped off the mound, looked down. You know, people you loved from your past, they’re never off your mind. They’re always there, in the back of it.”

McCullers retired the next six batters to end the game.

CAPTION

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses right-hander Dan Straily, who expressed a willingness to be a part of the team's rebuild and who was the team's most consistent starter, beginning to end, in 2017. "Dan was really what we thought we were getting, a guy who was consistent, prepared. He's an innings eater," Mattingly said. "He's a guy who has made every start. He's a guy who has been durable. We're going to need some guys like that to lead our staff."

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses right-hander Dan Straily, who expressed a willingness to be a part of the team's rebuild and who was the team's most consistent starter, beginning to end, in 2017. "Dan was really what we thought we were getting, a guy who was consistent, prepared. He's an innings eater," Mattingly said. "He's a guy who has made every start. He's a guy who has been durable. We're going to need some guys like that to lead our staff."

CAPTION

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses right-hander Dan Straily, who expressed a willingness to be a part of the team's rebuild and who was the team's most consistent starter, beginning to end, in 2017. "Dan was really what we thought we were getting, a guy who was consistent, prepared. He's an innings eater," Mattingly said. "He's a guy who has made every start. He's a guy who has been durable. We're going to need some guys like that to lead our staff."

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses right-hander Dan Straily, who expressed a willingness to be a part of the team's rebuild and who was the team's most consistent starter, beginning to end, in 2017. "Dan was really what we thought we were getting, a guy who was consistent, prepared. He's an innings eater," Mattingly said. "He's a guy who has made every start. He's a guy who has been durable. We're going to need some guys like that to lead our staff."

CAPTION

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses what it's like for players to go to salary arbitration, a process he took part in once, against the Yankees in 1987. "At the end of the day, I looked at it like you can’t really lose," Mattingly said. "Usually when you get to that point you’re getting a pretty good jump."

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly discusses what it's like for players to go to salary arbitration, a process he took part in once, against the Yankees in 1987. "At the end of the day, I looked at it like you can’t really lose," Mattingly said. "Usually when you get to that point you’re getting a pretty good jump."